Shadow Heart
by Silent Angel25
Summary: "The blue rose represents your sadness. The white rose represents your purity. The pink rose represents your innocence. And the red rose represents my love for you." Inspired by 'The Phantom of the Opera'.
1. The Phantom

**This is my first time making a story so I hope you all like it. **

**I was inspired by Phantom of the Opera, that's why I made this fic. And just so you know, this is a NoctxLight fic, cause Stella doesn't fit with Noctis in my perspective so deal with it people. Please don't take any offence StellaxNoctis fans, we have a thing called freedom of choice so let me have mine, that and don't even try to convince me to be one of you. I'm a true blue NoctxLight fan to the end! Go NoctxLight! **

**Shadow Heart**

**Chapter I: The Phantom's Letter**

Elaine looked out from the window, for some reasons, her thoughts were flying to the story of the banished prince of Tenebrae… Every now and then she would think about his story. She shook the thought away, she had bigger things to think about. She was finally going to have a child. And that was what mattered right now, not some crazy story that she just heard from her mother.

-xxx-

Cirrus walked back and forth from the halls, he was worried. Very, very worried. He was worried about his child, and his wife. When the midwife came out and said "Fear not you're your highness. They are safe." A wave of relief went through his chest.

Without a second thought, he rushed to his wife, "Are you alright, Elaine?" he asked as he caressed the said woman's hair.

Elaine smiled warmly at him, "Yes I am, my love. Look at our son." And she showed the child in her arms, "He has your blonde hair, and my eyes." She said as the child slept in her arms. "And I have a surprise for you."

Cirrus looked at her with confused eyes, "What do you mean by that?" he asked. His wife gave him a smile, looked at one of the servants and made a gesture for her to come forth.

The servant held out the thing in her arms to the king, and he gasped in surprise. It was a girl, almost the exact image of Elaine, only that her eyes were more like crystals. And they way her eyes turned emerald when the sunlight touches her blue eyes was fascinating.

Cirrus looked at his wife, who was currently smiling at him, "Are you saying… that you had twins?" Elaine grinned at him, "_We _have twins, Cirrus. Not just me. Now, what should we name them?"

The blonde-haired man looked up, "Well, I am not very talented in the arts of naming so I leave that task to you." "Hey! I am not the only parent here!"

Cirrus let out a sigh, then looked outside the window. "What about Cloud? How does that sounds? It would represent the weather he was born in. Cloud Strife Farron." Elaine looked at the outside as well, "You are right. It is cloudy today, and now for her."

As if on cue, a lightning suddenly flashed in the sky, followed by a loud roar of thunder. "Well, it seems that heaven has given us the answer." Cirrus looked at her, "What do you mean by that?" "It means that we shall call her Éclair, the French term for lightning. It also has a connection with her older brother's name. Lightning comes down from clouds, does it not?" "You're right, it does. Cloud and Éclair it is then."

Elaine gave her husband a wide grin, "This calls for a celebration!" and Cirrus mentally slapped his forehead and prayed to God that he will live for another day.

-xxx-

Cirrus twitched. His wife just _had_ to invite the world didn't she? Now he had to endure all the congratulations that were currently giving him a severe headache that he felt like his head would just suddenly crack on its own. But on the outside, he was very well composed. Not a single hint of stress could be seen on his face. And that was mainly because his wife would murder him if he gave a sour look to any of the guests.

So he just settled on looking at the night sky. It was one of the ways he can calm himself down that actually worked. Everyone seemed to have a good time, until Cirrus noticed the sky darkened more than it should, he could see flashes of lightning in the sky.

'This is strange. The weather was fine this day, why would a storm come tonight? Something is not right here.' He thought as he once again entered the castle, searching for his wife through the entire crowd. When he finally spotted her, he rushed to her direction, "Elaine, there is something wrong with-" before he was able to finish, he power went out and the windows were forced open, letting in a powerful gust of wind as lightning bolts came down from the sky and roars of thunder followed it.

To say that Elaine was afraid would be a gross understatement, she liked the shapes that lightning forms, but that did not mean that she liked the thunder that came after it. Which is why she had her face buried on her husband's chest, who had his arms around her in a comforting way.

But all her fright vanished and turned into pure horror when she heard a loud cry of a child. She knew exactly which twin that cry belongs to. "Éclair!" and she rushed towards the room of the twins, breaking free from Cirrus' hold. She pushed the door open, and her eyes widened when she saw that it was only Cloud who lay on the crib.

The child started to sob as he felt that his twin was nowhere near him. Elaine carried him and shushed him, "Fear not Cloud. We will find your sister." She whispered. Then she looked at the paper that was left on the crib. She did not remember leaving any paper there. She took it and in it was written _'Go to your chambers, you shall see what you seek there.'_

And she rushed towards her and her husband's room, Cloud still sobbing in her arms. She pushed the door open, just in time to see a dark shadow jump from the window. She ran towards the window, but she found nothing, not a single trace that she would think that she was only imagining what she saw that jumped over the window. But she knew better, she was sure of what she saw. Her eyes had never once deceived her, they certainly would not start now.

A cry broke out as she looked at the bed, and there she saw, her daughter. A wave of relief washed through her chest and she ran straight to her daughter and shushed her down. "There there Éclair, you are safe now. I will not let anything bad happen to you and your brother. I promise." Elaine said as she placed Cloud beside his sister and watched them sleep.

Cirrus soon joined her, "There you are, I have been searching everywhere for you. Where have you been anyway?" he asked as he too watched his children sleep soundlessly. Elaine looked at her husband and said "We need to double our security from now on. There is something –or rather, someone, which is lurking in the shadows for long enough to know every single details of this castle. I am worried, Cirrus. Very worried. I do not wish for this to happen again."

The said man looked at her, "I will do as you asked. I will tighten our security starting this very instant. I do not wish for this to happen again and –what is that?" he asked, pointing to a piece of paper placed under a pillow. Elaine, being the one closest, took it and opened it. There, written in a very elegant writing, was:

_My congratulations are for you, your majesties. I am happy that you finally have children of your own, this must be a very joyous moment for the two of you. Fear not, I have done absolutely nothing to harm your daughter in anyway. Éclair, was it? Such a lovely name for a child that I am sure would grow just as lovely. She is a very healthy child, she also fits very well in my arms, just saying. I also hope that you will like my gift for her. It is very precious to me so I hope that you shall let her keep it. I have none for your son, please forgive my rudeness. But no matter, that is of no importance now. I wanted to give my congratulations and I have delivered it, may you have a pleasant life, Lord Cirrus, Lady Elaine._

_Yours truly,_

_Phantom_

**There! I have finally finished it. I know that it's short but don't worry! I'll make it longer in the next chapter, I promise! And just for fun, here are two spoofs!**

**Spoof 1:**

**Cirrus walked back and forth from the halls, he was worried. Very, very worried. He was worried about his child, and his wife. When he soul not take it anymore, he pointed at the door, "Why the bloody hell am I not there?"**

**A servant looked at him questioningly, "Because you are not having a call of nature? Your highness, you do realize that you are pointing at a bathroom right?"**

…**.**

…**.**

…**.**

"**You have seen nothing. I have done nothing and said not a single word…"**

**Spoof 2:**

**And she rushed towards her and her husband's room, Cloud still sobbing in her arms. She pushed the door open, just in time to see a dark shadow jump from the window, but his cape was caught on one of the nails and fell not too pleasingly.**

**Elaine looked down from the window, "Are you alright down there?" she asked as she saw a man with a mask that covered his whole face hanging with his one foot being the only thing that prevented him from falling down from the fifth floor.**

"**Oh yes, I am perfectly fine! I am only hanging here like a bat with one foot and having absolutely **_**no**_** problem on falling down from the fifth floor of your castle –OF COURSE I AM NOT ALRIGHT, WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE WOMAN?" he yelled at her.**

**Elaine frowned at him, "I thought you were a phantom? Should you not be already a professional in these kinds of things?" she tossed back.**

…

…**.**

…**..**

"**Never mind. You would be of no help anyways, I would have better chances of falling rather than being saved if you were to help me."**

"**HEY!"**

**And there you have it people! My very first fanfic! I hope you would like it! Please review!**


	2. Changes

**And so here's the next chapter. Sorry I took too long. Had exams and school's a huge pain in the ass, literally. C.A.T. made all 3****rd**** year and 4****th**** year students clean the school's environment and it isn't pretty. I even caught an earth worm! My classmates all ran away scared, leaving me with the poor little creature in my hands and I was thinking "What? It's just an earthworm for heaven's sake!" So anyways, I hope you like this chapter. And by the way, I've edited it so that it would make more sense. **

**Just to remind you:**

_Thinking_

**Shouting**

Normal Talking

**And let the camera's roll! HEY! I didn't mean **_**literally **_**roll you idiot! Now go get a new camera! You broke it!**

**Shadow Heart**

**Chapter II: Changes**

Cloud looked up at the sky, it's been a few years since their parents died. And today was their death anniversary. He could remember that faithful day very well. He, Éclair, and Serah, their youngest sister, were all very happy that their parents were finally returning after a long journey to a distant kingdom. The three of them were all so happy, jumping in joy and such, but the joy vanished into thin air when they heard that their parents were ambushed and none had seen their bodies. Gone. Like they did not even exist. There were no signs of even the guards that they were with.

So, at a very early age of 14, Cloud had to take over their parents' left business. Everything changed since then. Serah was always cheerful, the people around would always wonder how she easily dealt with their parents' death. But Cloud knew better. The smiles that she always carries were all just an illusion, a mask, to hide the weeping girl who would not stop crying, mourning at the lost of her parents.

But Éclair… She was not the once regular ray of sunshine that he knew. She never smiled now. She changed her name to Lightning and forbid anyone to speak of her true name. She even joined the army, and had been one of the best one there is. He could always see her sparring or training with the other soldiers. But she always goes to their mother's garden for some reasons, probably to reminisce about the past when they were still all together. The very second that she heard that the chances of their parents returning was close to non-existent, she locked herself on her room for a whole month without letting anyone in except for when one of their servants would deliver her food. And when she finally came out, it was like she was an entirely different person. She even changed her name. From Éclair, she changed it to Lightning, the English translation of her original name. She forbid anyone from calling her using her birth name, her siblings were no exception. And whenever she introduces herself, she uses Lightning instead of her original name.

And Cloud, it is easier to say that he uses his work to escape his sorrow. Since he was the first one to be born, he was the one who, naturally, took their parents' place. He and Lightning would always travel from one country to another to negotiate with the other leaders. His only form of what was close to an entertainment was whenever Lightning would do her best to keep her hands from sending every single princes to the next dimension each time they try to flirt with her. Her expression has always been priceless. His thoughts were broken when he heard a knock on the door, "Come in."

And a brown-haired woman with matching chestnut eyes and porcelain skin came in and then closed the door behind her.

Cloud let a small smile appear on his lips, "You did not inform me that you were going to visit me. I should have been waiting in the palace gates to welcome you." He said as he walked towards the newcomer.

The brunette smiled and gave Cloud a soft kiss on his cheek when he was close enough, "I will not always tell you what I would do and when I will pay a visit. And I did not only come here for you. I came for you sisters as well." She said in which the blonde gave a small chuckle.

Clouds offered her an arm in which she gracefully took and he led her out towards his mother's garden, "Whether or not you tell me, I shall still enjoy your company." He said, making the woman beside him giggle softly.

"Those old books that you have been reading are starting to get into you. I fear that you will be so caught into them that a day will come that I shall not be able to understand a word you say." The brunette said as she leaned her head on one of Cloud's shoulder.

"Have no fear. I only did so to make you smile, and it seems to work quite well. You always did have a beautiful smile Tifa." The blonde said as they arrived on their destination.

The place was as beautiful as it always have. This place was not actually a garden, it was once a wasted grassland until their mother bought it and turned it to a flower paradise. There were different types of flowers growing everywhere, the leaves on most of the trees are starting to fall as the sign of autumn and was telling them that winter is coming soon, and the lake located near the middle was making the place more beautiful than it already is with the waters looking like crystals and diamonds with the soft sunlight.

But the most attractive is the way the cherry blossom petals are falling like pink snow covering the entire place. Not to mention, now that Cloud was thinking about it, Lightning had always been attracted to cherry blossoms. She always played here with their mother when she was a child. That reminded him, he made a promise here as well. Two promises actually.

-xxx-

_Elaine watched as her twins played with their now learning how to walk Serah. She watched as Éclair helped her sister stand up once more after falling and slightly crying. _

"_Cloud, can you come here dear?" she called out._

_The three all looked at their mother. The twins exchanged glances and Éclair nodded at her brother, silently saying that she could take care of Serah just fine without his help. And so the blonde rushed to their mother's side._

"_What is it Mother?" he asked._

_Elaine smiled at him, "Cloud dear, do you mind promising me something?" she asked as she knelt down to her son's size._

_The said boy gave her a questioning look, "What kind of promise Mother?"_

"_Promise that you will always look after your sisters, especially Éclair. Can you promise me that?"_

_Although Cloud wondered why his mother said especially Éclair and not Serah, he just nodded and said "Of course Mother."_

_After that, Elaine gave him a warm embrace. Cloud didn't know why, but for some strange reasons, he felt like something was going to happen. And it would not be pleasant._

-xxx-

And it turned out to be true. The way their mother talked was like she knew something was going to happen soon, and exactly 5 years later, she and their father vanished into thin air without a single trace. Cloud was about to think back about his other promise but he felt a hand on his cheek and turned to the brunette beside him, "What is it?" he asked.

Tifa removed her hand, "I should be the one to ask you that question. You suddenly spaced out and seemed to be rather deep in thought. I have been calling onto you for the past five minutes and you have not shown a sign that you hear me. Tell me, is there something wrong?" she asked.

Cloud shook his head as a no, "There is nothing wrong. This place just brings back precious memories."

"Oh, I apologize if I disturbed you from reminiscing. Those memories must truly be important."

"No no. It is fine. Anyways, why did you come here? It is not that I do not wish to see you, I am honestly glad that you did, but I am just merely curious."

Tifa bent down to touch a red rose, "I just wanted to see if you are all doing well. I heard from Vanille that Snow really got a beating from Lightning the past month. Tell me, how is he?" she asked.

"Sadly, he is still very much alive."

"Sadly? And here I thought it was only Lightning who did not want him as a brother-in-law. I did not know that you feel the same. You two really are twins." Tifa said as she let out a soft laugh.

Cloud shrugged slightly, "Well, we are not the only ones. Our cousins feel the same way. I just do not see what Serah liked about him and neither does Lightning. The man is three times her size for the Light's sake!" he said a little too harshly that made Tifa stand up and turn to him.

"Well, love has nothing to do about appearances. What matters is the inside. So stop being so harsh on the poor man. It is already horrible enough that Lightning needs around ten well trained soldiers to stop her from killing him every time she sees him, and apparently, sometimes ten soldiers are not enough… Speaking of Lightning, where is she?"

Cloud sighed, "Beating up some soldiers at the training grounds. It appears to me that giving Snow a broken arm and leg and 3 cracked ribs was not enough for her. I am starting to feel really bad for those soldiers…"

The brunette covered her mouth in an effort to stop a howl of laughter, _'Same old Lightning. She never will change, will she?'_

The two then left the garden to head for the training grounds, hoping to see someone other than Lightning standing. They were about to enter when they suddenly heard-

"CLOUD! LONG TIME NO SEE CUZ!"

The said blonde rolled his eyes and mentally slapped himself on the forehead. He, reluctantly, turned to face where the *unbelievably loud* voice came from.

And there he saw his cousins and some friends that he and his sisters have knows since childhood.

Vanille, the red-haired girl with emerald eyes and a very strange accent. A regular ray of sunshine and never seems to run out of energy. She is a second cousin and always has her hair tied in pigtails. She loves making fun of people but is highly demanding.

Then beside her is Fang, another second cousin and a whole cousin to Vanille. She is also Vanille's partner in crime. But unlike Vanille, Fang has ebony hair and blue eyes. Not to mention she also has a mole on the right side of her cheek, just an inch or two under her eye. And like Lightning, the girl can fight.

And then there's Tidus, one of their whole cousin. He has somewhat golden brown hair with matching blue eyes. Tidus may be serious most of the time, but give him something sweet and you will forget that he can be very scary when angry.

Beside him is Yuna, the cute innocent girl with eyes that are astonishingly different in color. She is very kind, aside from the times when she kicks and punches people who are anywhere near her when she is sleeping, but since she is sleeping that does not really count does it?

And there is Squall, another whole cousin of theirs. He also have brown hair and blue eyes like Tidus. His scar on his face makes him look very intimidating to other people, but to them, it is something to make fun of him of. And that scar gave him the nickname "Scar Face", which annoys him to no end.

Of course, if Squall is there, so is Rinoa. She is a very close relative to Tifa, explaining their slight resemblance to one another. She may be lady-like most of the time, but if you get on her nerves you are going to get hurt. Not as serious as you are going to get from Lightning but still.

Then there's Hope. He has silver-grayish hair and blue eyes, he is also the youngest of the group although thinks a little too mature for his age. The kid idolizes Lightning so much that it would seem that he is infatuated with her. Although a relationship between them is highly impossible because of the age gap and the fact that Lightning has no interest in men. Besides, you will see that Hope only idolizes Lightning only to the level of admiration and not infatuation if you study it longer.

And unfortunately for Cloud's sanity, Zack, a raven-haired male with blue eyes like the sky. He is childhood friend and it makes Cloud wonder why that is so. And among the guys, Zack is the only one who thinks it's alright for Serah to have a relationship with Snow. But then again, they weren't really surprised. He had always been against people who force couples to stay apart. Amidst the drama but it's true.

Next on line is Aerith. She has brown hair and emerald eyes, the human form of nature. She is also an expert on flowers. Sometimes, Cloud wonders what a woman as kind and gentle as her saw in Zack, who is the exact opposite of her quiet nature. But like people always say, opposites attract no?

And last but certainly not loved least, Stella. She has blonde hair with some brow strands on top and hazy blue eyes. She is also the closest to Lightning. At first all Stella got from Lightning was a nod and a yes or no. But you have to hand it to her, she'll probably win the "Most Persistent and Never Giving Up" award if there is. It took her five years before Lightning actually started to talk to her. And now they were the best of friends… As much best of friends go in Lightning's world that is.

That statement probably goes for him and Tifa as well. Tifa is a very friendly woman while he on the other hand stays away from people as much as he possibly can.

Yup, opposites do attract.

"What are you doing here?" Cloud asked in a _slightly _annoyed voice.

"What? You are not happy to see me? I thought we were friends!" Zack said in a fake hurt tone and made a pathetic looking face which Cloud assumed his way of looking for sympathy… As if that's ever going to work.

"Stop doing that face Zack. You will probably scare a by passer if there is one. And you look stupid so stop it." Squall said in an attempt to make some sense go through the raven-haired male's head. And as usual, it worked…not.

Vanille walked towards the door that leads to the training grounds, "Are you just going to stand there and do nothing? I have not seen Light since forever so let us no waste time okay? Come on!" she said.

…

…

…

"Are you going to open that door or may I do the honors?" Zack asked after Vanille stood there doing nothing for the past few minutes.

"You open it." Fang said and pushed Zack towards the door.

Zack rolled his eyes and made a move to twist the knob, "What is it with you people and this door? It is merely a door, what can possibly ha-AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

As soon as the door was opened, a lance came flying towards their direction, just a half inch before it hit Zack's face, and landed on the wall behind them.

Fang laughed, "Nice aim. What do you think Zack? Zack?"

The said man was frozen and the only thing that was moving were his knees which are uncontrollably shaking before he fell on his knees and breathed hoarsely, "What the bloody hell was that for Lightning? You could have hit me with that!" he shouted.

There, standing a good 20 feet away from them, was a woman with strawberry-blonde hair tied in a tight bun, piercing crystal blue eyes, porcelain skin…and was rather pretty tall for a woman.

"I did not hit you, did it? So stop complaining since you are very much alive. Or do you want me to hit you this time?" Lightning asked as her hands took another lance.

The raven-haired male paled, "I'm not complaining! Whoever said I was complaining? I am perfectly fine as you can see. Ahahahaha." He said as he stood up and raised his hands up as a sign of surrender.

Lightning turned away from them and placed the lance she was holding back to where she took it.

The others looked around the training ground. Some of the soldiers were all struggling to get up while most were pretty much unconscious. But none were dead. Lightning may be brutal but she was never a sadist. Although, taking her anger on these poor people seems to be a little too much, no?

"By the Light, Lightning. You did not have to take everything out on these soldiers. They can barely keep their selves conscious. It-"

"No Lady Aerith. W-we were the ones w-who a-asked Lady Lightning t-t-to train u-us. W-we a-also knew that she w-was not in the mood to fight s-s-so we knew the consequences o-of o-o-our decision…" said one of the soldiers who was trying to get up.

"Uh, guys? Where did Lightning head off to?" Stella asked when she looked back up.

The rest looked around and true enough, Lightning was nowhere to be seen.

"Are you looking for Lightning?" a small voice asked from behind them.

They all turned around and saw Serah, "If you are then you should go to the horse stables. I heard one of the house keepers that one of the horses had gone wild again and was asking Lightning for help since the other could not stop it. I was going to follow her but she told me to stay here since it is too dangerous. You better hurry, she could get hurt!" she said a little too fast, it was obvious that she looked for them to ask for help.

Cloud suddenly ran past her like a hurricane. He went back to the palace as fast as he could, leaving the others wondering what to do.

"So what do we do now?" Hope asked.

Stella snorted and ran back inside but stopped at the door, "Is that even a question? We help of course! Do you even know how dangerous a horse is when it is in rage? If none of you wants to help, fine. But I will not stay here and pray that nothing bad will happen to her, I will do whatever I can to help!" she said and followed Cloud's trail.

"She's right. We cannot stand here and do nothing. I will go as well." Tidus said and made a move to follow the blonde-haired woman and the rest followed but Tifa Rinoa stopped and turned back to Serah.

"I know you want to go as well, but you must stay here." She said.

"Why? Why is it that I always stay here and do nothing for her?"

"Because: 1.) Lightning will have all of us hung upside-down on a tree; 2.) It is not safe there; and 3.) It would tear Lightning apart if you get hurt, okay? Your sister only wants to ensure your safety. Staying safe is the least you can do for her, do that at least." Rinoa said then left.

Serah stared at the open door, should she or should she not? She was worried of her sister. Although she knew as well as everyone that Lightning is a very strong woman, but even so, she is not invisible or some sort. She can still get hurt or worse, die.

'_I want to go, but she told me not to. I want to help her, but I will probably just get in the way. There is nothing I can do there...'_

-xxx-

"Get the whips and chains, hurry!"

The house and gate keepers were all running wildly as the horse started rampaging one more and tried to break free from its cage. One of the house keepers had found a whip and started to use it in an effort to intimidate the beast, but instead, it only seemed to make it angrier. It gave a loud cry and kicked around once again when the whip hit it.

"Everyone, get down!" yelled one of the gate keepers as he held out a gun and took aim at the rampaging horse.

The others knelt down, waiting for the fire. The man holding the gun was about to pull the trigger when-

"You pull that trigger and your life goes along with it." Came a voice from the door.

All the people looked up at the new comer, "Princess Lightning!"

"The princess is here!"

"We are finally going to get rid of that beast!"

"Kill it!"

Lightning looked at the people who kept on saying that she will kill the horse and was a little surprised when one of the gate keepers gave her a gun. She took it and the others chanted on her to kill it.

Not being able to take it anymore, she shouted "And since when have _you _been given the right to give orders to _me_?"

And all was silent. She turned to the one who was about to shoot down the horse before she arrived, "YOU! Who gave you permission to kill the horses here? Do they belong to you? Is that why you have the right to kill whichever one you please?" she yelled at him.

"N-no of course not my Lady! I-I was merely trying to help!" The soldier stuttered, the very thought of Lightning's wrath when provoked was already a nightmare.

"Trying to help? _Trying_ to help? So killing it is the only way to help? And you," she turned to the one with the whip, "since when have you been given the permission to hurt the animals? Do you want me to do to you what you have done to this horse?"

The man shook his head, having no courage to speak.

Lightning, in an effort to ease her irritation, threw the gun across the room. She walked towards the animal and studied it, it had whip marks obviously, but it also had scars, meaning…

"How long have you been hurting my father's animals? Do you know how important they are to me?" Lightning shouted. She knew that she was being harsh, but she could not help but get irritated. If only they knew how important those animals were to her…

"W-we apologize, my Lady… We did not mean to offend you in any way. Please forgive us…" One of the house keepers said and bowed down to her, and the others followed her.

Lightning shook her head, "You need not bow. And I am not the one you should be apologizing to. Anyways, we need to do something quick before he breaks loose." She said and started to look for the horse's leash while the others backed away and helped her look for it.

Lightning heard a loud crack, "Where is it?" she muttered and when she looked inside the horse's cage, there, just beside the rampaging horse, was the leash she was looking for. She stood up and jumped straight inside the cage.

"Lady Lightning, what are you doing?" One of the soldiers yelled as he saw the strawberry-blonde haired princess jump inside the horse's cage.

Lightning knew that what she was doing was dangerous. There was a very high chance that she will get hit but if she did not take the risk then things will end up far worse than it already is. She bent down, grabbed the leash, and jumped to the horse's back and tied it with the leash in her hand. The horse moved wildly, obviously trying to make her fall off its back. Lightning held on tighter, _'I am never insulting bull-fighters who fall ever again…'_ she thought as she almost fell from the sudden movements of the beast she was riding. Lightning rubbed the horse's neck, one of the few ways her father taught her on how to calm down a rampaging horse.

After a few seconds, the horse stopped moving. Good, it seems to work. "Don't worry. No one will hurt you anymore, I swear. You can calm down now, as long as I am around, no one will harm you." She whispered to the beast.

The horse lifted its head, as if to answer her. When Lightning felt that it was safe to get off, she did. But she did not cease on stroking the horse's neck. "What is his name?" she asked.

"He does not have a name yet. His mother was the late Lady's favorite since she was Lord Cirrus' gift." The closest one to her answered.

"Very well then, I shall call him… Odin." Lightning said.

"Odin, the Norse God?"

"Yes, is there anything wrong with that?"

"No! Certainly not! Odin it is then."

Lightning looked back at Odin. He was as white as snow, aside from a few dirt that covers some part of his legs that is. His eyes were an emerald color… weird.

"Lightning! Are you alright?" Cloud yelled as he arrived at the stable, followed by Stella and the others. She did not see Serah anywhere, so she assumed that she listened to her. That was new, Serah had never listened to her before.

"Yes. I am fine, brother." Lightning answered as she started to lead Odin outside the stable.

"Lady Lightning, are you sure that you want to take him outside? We have never let him outside the stable before because we were afraid that he might go on a rampage again…" one of the house keepers said once more.

"So that is why he is so angry. All he wants is to go outside and have some fun. And I have not ridden for a while so we'll go together… _Alone."_ Lightning said and went outside to go somewhere.

-xxx-

Lightning went outside the palace walls, just at the back of the castle. She mounted on and they went to someplace where she may call her "Secrete Hide-Out". It took about 20 minutes before they reached their destination. The place was almost the same as her mother's garden, only that this place did not have as much flowers as their garden did, this place had more cherry blossom trees around it.

"This place is the only place aside from my mother's garden that I stay at when I feel the need to think and be alone." She told Odin as she dismounted from him. She held his leash and led him to the lake for him to drink some water.

"Stay here, alright? I will just go get some food." She told him and then headed towards the nearest tree. She looked up at the trees, there were no fruits anywhere… _'Wonderful. I just had to leave without bringing a single food with me…'_

Odin gave a loud cry and Lightning rushed back to him, but when she reached the lake again, Odin was the only one there… and a basket near him. That was strange, there was no basket there earlier…and there was a note there too. She took the basket and read the note;

_ How very smart of you to leave without bringing any food with you. And on top of that, you have not eaten lunch yet. So that is why I, not being able to resist you, decided to be the responsible one- like I always am. This is the third time this week that I saved you from starvation, you should be grateful. Ah, what will you do without me? Take care of yourself, alright? Although I will always be with you no matter what happens, I cannot risk you getting hurt. And next time, please bring food._

"And yet you have yet to reveal yourself to me…" Lightning whispered as folded the letter and walked towards the lake's edge with Odin behind her trail. The white horse gestured for the letter, as if asking who it was from.

Lightning looked back at the white paper, "It is from a friend. Well, he has always been there for me when I needed someone to comfort me, so I believe I can call him my friend. Although I will have to admit, I may have heard his voice so many times before since he usually pays me visit only at night, I have never once seen his face…" she said and placed it inside her pocket.

She opened the basket, _'Well, I am not surprised that these are more than enough to feed me for a whole day. You had always been like this, I never did knew what goes into your mind… I wonder when I will finally see your face…'_

She stayed there until she fell asleep. When she awoke, the sun was already setting. "Uh oh… Cloud will definitely not like this…" she muttered as she stood up and headed straight back home with Odin.

-xxx-

"And just where have you been?" was Cloud's question the moment Lightning came home.

Lightning rolled her eyes, she knew this was going to happen. "I just went out for a walk. I fell asleep someplace there and when I woke up the sun was already setting. There, are you happy that I've answered your question?" she tossed back. Sometimes it drives her insane when Cloud gets too over protective over very small things, it's not like she's a child anymore. She knew that her brother only wants her safe all the time, but he needs to accept that she is no longer the girl who would always run to him when she felt depressed or lonely.

"Cloud, Lightning is very much capable of taking care of herself. Right, Lightning?" and Lightning mentally thanked the Light that It had sent Tifa to save her from Cloud's scolding. And the best part of all that is that Cloud can't say anything against Tifa.

And true enough, Cloud just looked away without a single word. And As usual, "You really can't say a word against Tifa, can you Cloud?" with that, Zack received a rather painful smack in the head.

Stella rolled her eyes and turned to Lightning, "And I've decided just now, I shall be staying her until winter starts. Do you mind going with me back to Tenebrae and spend spring there Light?" she asked.

"That sounds alright. I need to save Snow from another broken body, or so Serah says." Lightning answered.

The blonde-haired woman clapped her hands, "Wonderful! I get to spend more time with Light! I'm so happy!" and started jumping around like a child being given a lollipop.

"Oh, and before I forget, all of us are going to stay here for the winter as well. Isn't that great? We'll all be spending more time together!" Zack said and all the boys including Lightning groaned in annoyance.

'_May the Light grant me the strength to survive all these things that are about to happen…' _Cloud thought.

-xxx-

**Done! I have finally finished editing all this. I hope it makes more sense now. My fingers are sore now… Oh well, I hope you guys like this one better than the last one. It ain't easy changing things here, my brain's already roasted at school and now I have to think for Chapter 3. Poor Cloud. I think it's gotten longer? Well, I'm tired of using old English, some of it is hardly understandable! So in the next chapter, I'm gonna use the English now. And just for fun, here's a spoof!**

"**Lightning! Are you alr-AAAAAAAAH!" **

**Lightning looked as her brother stepped on a pail and slid inside and landed on his buttocks…**

"**Uh… bother, are you alright?" Lightning asked and sweat dropped as she watched her brother remove another pail that was currently stuck on his head.**

"**Oh yes, I'm **_**great**_**! I just slipped, landed on my ass, and apparently have a pail stuck on my head! Of course I feel **_**fine**_**!" Cloud said as he kicked the pail on his foot away and stood up as he tried to remove the pail on his head.**

**After a few seconds…**

"**Don't just stand there! Help me get this off my head!" Cloud shouted as he pointed an accusing finger.**

**Lightning sweat dropped, "You're pointing at the wrong direction brother…" she said.**

**Cloud turned around and pointed there. **

"**Still not right."**

**He did the same action he did.**

"**You do realize that you just turned back to the direction you were once in right?"**

**Me: Okay! That's enough people! The show's over so you go home now. And Zack, you still owe me ten bucks.**

**Zack: …*runs***

**Me: HEY! Get back here! I want my money back!**


	3. A Winter to Remember

**Here is the 3****rd**** chapter of Shadow Hearts. I hope you like it even though I'm not so good at making fanfics yet. It's still my first time making these kinds of things. I would like to thank ****Burning Phoenix X-7** **for her support and all the ideas she has given me. I know I'm really slow at typing but please understand. The fact that school is pissing me off big time isn't really helping either. And now I'm gonna use modern English because the old dialect is really hard to maintain. So here's the next chapter:**

**Shadow Hearts**

**Chapter 3: A Winter to Remember**

Lightning looked outside from the window, the snow falling as the others were playing snowball fights. And as usual, the main target was Zack. She noticed that there was a certain blonde missing the scene and was not really surprised to hear a knock at the door a few seconds later.

"Hey! Open up Light! You're missing out all the fun outside!" came Stella's voice from outside her room.

The said woman rolled her eyes, "I can see that. I have a window in case you've forgotten. And I'm not interested on playing with you children so leave me be…for once." She replied in a slight annoyed tone. In truth, she would want nothing more than to join those who were outside right now, it would be nice to relax every once in a while. But her trauma of losing her parents stopped the young adventurous girl inside of her that was not often shown and seen by others' eyes.

"Oh come on Light! It's not healthy for you to be always sealed inside your room. You need to have time for yourself every now and then." Before Lightning could even reply, Stella cut her off by saying "And it doesn't matter if you hate the snow because of _him_."

The strawberry blonde-haired woman frowned, leave it to Stella to say everything that's not supposed to be said. Now she secretly hoped that none of their housekeepers heard it, although she was fairly sure they already know about it. "If you already know why I don't like it, why even bother asking me to go outside knowing that I would refuse?" she asked as she moved away from her room's window, not standing the sight outside anymore.

There was a long pause before she heard the jingling of keys and was not at all surprised to see the door swing open to reveal the blonde haired woman she was talking to earlier. "You are coming with me when I go outside this castle whether you like it or not missy." Were her exact words as she headed straight towards Lightning's wardrobe and began to take clothes out.

Lightning watches Stella as she threw the clothes to her bed, "Just make sure you put those back where you pulled them out. Unlike you, I arrange my wardrobe myself and not have someone else do it for me, so it ain't easy." She said in a monotone voice.

-x-x-x-x-

"Oh come _on_ guys! Why am I always the target here?" Zack whined and was answered by a snowball in the face. Every winter, whenever they somehow see each other, Zack is always the target on every snowball fight. Somehow, the girls just love using him that way, and it also helps since Zack doesn't fight back at all.

"That's because you always leave an opening, you don't fight back, and you're much more fun than those emos over there." Yuna answered as she pointed her thumb at the guys who were just sitting on a snow-covered fence.

Aerith just stayed in the sidelines and watched as the other girls gang up on Zack, a somewhat dreamy look on her face. Hope was standing beside her and somehow noticed her dreamy expression. "You can join them you know. There's no law against it or anything." And when he turned to her once more, she was already long gone and was joining the other girls.

While they girls continued to abuse Zack's inability to fight them back, the guys were having their own agenda. "Poor guy. Although I think he probably deserves it." Tidus said as he watched another snowball hit Zack square in the face again.

"He _does_ deserve it." Cloud said in a low tone as he crossed his arms.

Squall turned to him, "I've been meaning to ask you about this Cloud, but why the hell does _he _have to be here?" he asked as pointed at the farthest left. When Cloud turned to where Squall pointed, a dark scowl immediately formed on his face. There, exactly where Squall had pointed, was Serah being all love-dovey with Snow. Cloud held the wooden fence in an effort to calm himself down, which is unfortunately not helping at all.

Tidus followed the direction to where they were looking at and frowned, ""Why did you even let _him_ stay here anyway?" he asked Cloud.

"Serah wouldn't take no for an answer. Luckily, Lightning isn't here and-"

"Hey guys! It's a miracle! I managed to make Light come out today!"

...

…

…

…

…

"Never mind. Forget I even talked."

Lightning went beside her brother. She watched as Stella joined the other girls on ganging up on Zack, "If they keep doing that, I won't have a punching bag later." She said. She noticed that the fence she was leaning on was slightly trembling, she then looked at her bother and tried to look around for anything that may cause his irritation. And when she turned left…

…SNAP!

Tidus and Squall looked at the piece of wood that was taken from the fence, "You know, if you're going to break things, the guy you're looking at is clearly available." Squall said. Lightning clutched the wood in her hands harder, and it once again snapped into two.

Tidus gulped, "Uh, Squall? I don't think you should be giving her ideas in these kinds of time." He said as he watched his female cousin turn red from anger. And when Snow places an arm around Serah…

"That's it!" and Lightning made a move to march towards the couple, but was stopped by three powerful pairs of arms. Cloud was pulling her from the waist, Squall doing the same from the shoulders, and Tidus pushing her away from the front.

"Damn it woman, what are you a bulldozer or something? Geez!" Tidus shouted as he put more effort on pushing her.

"Uh, guys? Do you think that those three are enough to stop Light?" Yuna asked as she and the others have finally stopped attacking Zack. The raven-haired male turned to where the girls were looking at and almost laughed at the picture the four cousins were making. Scratch the almost part, he _did_ laugh, and not quite the way normal people would laugh too. He then decided to lend a hand for once;

"Hey! You two over there! I ain't against you –well actually, I'm the only one who's not, but I'm not exactly a big fan of PDA. Nor am I a fan or Light's '_Operation: Kill my sister's boyfriend'_." He called out. Then he looked up and appeared to be thinking about something, "Although, the way Light does it _is_ pretty interesting. It's just not very appealing on my part 'cause I'm the only one who actually has the heart to carry Snow to the hospital and –WOAH!" he ducked, and the rock that Lightning threw at him hit the tree behind him. He laughed triumphantly and pointed at Lightning, "AHAHAHAHA! You missed! And you're supposed to be the best shooter in all of Cocoon? AHAHAHAHA!" and once again let out another fit of laughter.

In response, Lightning gave him a dark smirk. "On the contrary, I hit my target well. Too well." She said and nodded her head at him, telling him to look up. When he did, piles of snow came pouring down at him. Apparently, Zack was never her target, but the tree that stocked up piles of snow behind him. Lightning has once again out smarted him, like that's anything new…

Rinoa let out a small giggle before composing herself and turning to Tifa, "Hey, didn't you and Stella planned to go out today? That's the reason you wanted everyone here right?" she asked.

Hearing this, Stella turned towards everyone, "Okay! Since this is the first winter that we are all together, let's all go out and have fun! And also, this is the day we celebrate Light's improvement on being social! Who's with me, raise your hands!"

Everyone –aside from Lightning –all raised their hands, with Vanille jumping with glee. Although, Cloud, Squall, and Tidus were either scratching the back of their heads with their other hand (Cloud), had their left eye twitching every now and then (Squall), or just simply rubbing their temples (Tidus) because Tifa, Rinoa, and Yuna had lifted their hands with one of their own and were grinning wildly. Fang turned to Lightning and, aided with the other girls, gave Lightning a pleading look, in which Lightning ignore by simply looking away. "Aw come on Light! Don't ruin all the fun! Even Cloud, Squall, and Tidus are tagging along!"Aerith said.

Lightning gave them all a cold glare, and for some reason, everyone aside from Lightning all thought the same thing: _'Is it just me? Or did the temperature just got lower?'_

"No."

-x-x-x-x-

'_Why am I here again?'_ Lightning found herself asking in the back of her head as she struggled to remember how she ended up being where she was now. And to add more irritation in her, Stella just _had_ to take everyone to the grand shopping mall in Nautilus. This one of the main reasons Lightning didn't want to come in the first place. Aside the fact that _he_ was here, Stella had a knack on annoying her to no end, which in fact, is happening right now. She made a mental note never to trust that woman again. Ever. She was sure all this girly trash she is being forced to see will be the death of her. At least, she wasn't the only one who wasn't enjoying. Her older twin brother and the two brown-headed cousins were turning pale from all the girlishness around.

"Hey guys, look! Don't you think this will suit Light perfectly?" Yuna asked as she pulled out a crystal blue gown that was far too revealing on Lightning's point of view.

"You're right, it complements her eyes very well." Tifa answered as she nodded her head in agreement.

Lightning rolled her eyes and mentally slapped herself, _'Why I'm acquainted with these people, I'll never know… May the Light grant me enough strength to survive all this…' _

A few moments later, the gang was dragged by Stella to go to a place that has caught her attention. It was somewhere near a cliff. "Hey guys? Don't you think that this would be a nice place to have a picnic? After all, we haven't eaten lunch yet, and over there is a really nice spot!" Aerith suggested as she found a place where there is not much snow around. The others have agreed immediately, not being able to deny their hunger.

Lightning looked around as she took another bite at the rice ball she was eating, one of the few things that she liked about being with these people is watching them have fun. Yes, she was content with just that. She looked at her left, and even though she despised the fact that Snow was with Serah, she couldn't deny that she was happy seeing her sister happy. She honestly didn't have anything against Snow, unlike everyone sees, she just doesn't want to see her sister get hurt like the time when their parents went missing. She shook the though away, focusing on her friends' smile. She then turned to Tidus, who was now happily eating the bento that Yuna had made for him. Then to Squall, who was happily eating a piece of bread with Rinoa. The guy seemed really happy, too happy, so Lightning decided to add a little spice into it. "Yo, Scar-face! You got mayonnaise on your face!" she shouted. And as she had predicted, Squall immediately whipped his face, only to find out that there was no such thing on his face.

"Lightning!" Squall shouted and stood up as the others laughed at him. Rinoa's laugh seemed to calm him, so he once again took his seat. Lightning loved making fun of Squall, although it's not so obvious. Aerith was feeding Zack, who was acting like a child like he always does. The two seemed really happy with each other, causing Lightning's lips to form a small, almost unnoticeable smile. She heard an all-too-familiar chuckle, which she was sure belonged to her older twin brother. She turned to him, and was not at all surprised to see him smiling his heart out–well, enough to lightly reach his eyes anyway, still, that was a very huge difference compared to his normal smile, which doesn't really count as one-as Tifa fed him with a piece of strawberry. Cloud was always like a ray of sunshine when Tifa was with him. Like he was literally a cloud and she was the sky that he belonged to. And the Oerba cousins along with Hope are having a really great time as well. Then she turned to look at-

Lightning's eyes widened. She stood up and turned her head in every direction there is. The others turned to her in utter confusion, "Light? Are you cool? What's gotten in to ya'?" Fang asked as she and the other watched the strawberry blonde-haired woman turn around over and over again.

Lightning whirled around once more, "Stella? Stella where the hell did you go now?" she called out. One of the many things that she hated about Stella is that she's standing beside you for one moment and disappears the second later. And the worst part of it, is that whenever she does that appear-disappear trick of hers, she always ends up getting in trouble. A few moments later, a loud scream filled the air.

"LIGHT! LIGHT! HELP!"

And before the others could react, Lightning was already long gone, following the screams that belonged to her blonde-somewhat crazy- friend. "Stella? Stella? Where are you?" The coral-haired woman called out once more when she was certain that this was the place she was looking for.

"Down here! Down here!" came Stella's answer from the Light knows where.

Lightning went to the cliff's edge and prayed, even though it was useless, that whatever she was thinking of just now was not reality. True enough to her predictions, Stella was hanging on the cliff. "Why do you always have to get yourself in trouble? Here, take my hand. Careful though." Lightning said as she offered a hand.

The blonde princess reached out, but the rock she was holding onto suddenly collapsed. She closed her eyes tightly, waiting for a harsh fall, but a hand gripped her arm and threw her back up. Lightning inwardly thanked her reflexes in these kinds of situation, what she didn't expect was the ground she was sitting on to collapse under their weight. She knew that they would both fall if she didn't do anything, so she threw Stella to somewhere away from the collapsing ground they were in with all the strength she had left.

"Light!" Stella cried out, tears forming in her eyes as she turned to look around to see her best friend, only to find empty air. She headed straight near the broken edge, looking for Lightning below. The tears in her eyes fell furiously as the others came to her side.

"Stella, where's my sister?" Cloud asked, a strange quiver in his voice.

The princess of Tenebrae didn't say a single word, the tears in her eyes blurring her sight. The only response she gave them was a shook of her fair head. Cloud' eyes widened as he turned his head to the cliff. Before anyone could stop him, he rushed towards the steep, carefully going down. "Lightning? Lightning where are you? I know you can hear me! Please answer!" he shouted, even though his heart ached because he knew he was not going to get any answer. His fair hair covered his eyes and he clutched his hands into fists. _'I promised Mother that I would never let anything happen to you. It was the first and last favor she asked me, and now look what I did! Damn it!' _He squinted his eyes and when he opened them, some tears fell and went along with the wind.

"Éclair!"

-x-x-x-x-

'_Damn it, this is why I hate people who are too adventurous for their own good. I am never going to go along with these kinds of things again. That is, assuming I'll live after this. I doubt anyone comes along these parts of the forest, and its winter…' _Lightning thought to herself as she clutched her left arm in an effort to stop the bleeding. She couldn't use any magic that she had learned these past few years, she was totally drained from her fall. Wait, now that she thought about it, why didn't she use it when she was helping Stella out? _'Well, too late for that now.'_ She tried to stand up again, but ended up falling from the horrible bruises on her right leg and foot. Well, what did you expect? Would you rather get hit by a huge rock or a tree bark? Lightning may have amazing reflexes, but no one can go unscratched from a fall like that.

'_That gives me an idea. Maybe I should train here when I have the time…'_ Lightning knew the thought was really random, but hey, she liked risk. She just doesn't like the look on her siblings' faces when they see her get badly hurt. She smiled lightly as she pictured how Cloud would react if he were to see her like this. An image of Cloud turning blue then fainting popped in her head and it almost made her laugh. It's not like it never happened before anyway. If she could remember correctly, it happened seven times last year, ten the year before that, and this year would be twelve if he sees her in her current state. _'Somehow, no matter how many times it happens, it still amuses me to no end.'_ Lightning thought with a smirk on her face. Her eyes widened as she started to get dizzy and her sight get blurry.

'_Shit! I'm losing too much blood! But why? It's only my arm-' _her thoughts were cut as she felt a wetness on her head. She touched the back of her head and, sure enough, the liquid was blood. So that was why she felt dizzy. _'Not good. I can't pass out here!'_ she thought to herself as she tried to stand up again, only to fall once more. She decided to give up, she would only make it harder for her if she kept trying anyway, so she just lied down on the snow and tried to forget the pain.

"Man, this just really isn't my day, is it?" She asked herself, slightly surprised that she said it out loud. She closed her eyes, waiting for herself to fall into a deep sleep. But before she fell unconscious, she felt strong arms wrap around her. _'It's so… warm…' _were her last thoughts before she left the conscious world.

"You really need to take care of yourself more. I don't want to see you getting hurt like this again, especially when I can't even be close to you with so many people around, Éclair."

-x-x-x-x-

"Cloud? You okay?" Zack asked worriedly.

Cloud whirled around to him furiously, his expression grave, "What does it look like? Do I look like I feel like celebrating to you?" he shouted.

The raven-haired teen didn't look so surprised. Hope turned to look from Cloud to Zack, this was one of the rare times that Zack wears a serious face. "Do you think Light's gonna like it if you act like this?" Zack asked him.

The blond looked taken back, and then clenched his teeth, "I didn't mean to snap like that. It's just that I… I feel so useless… I wasn't even there! And-!" He felt a strong sting on his cheek, and when he looked up, he saw Tifa holding her hand up and tears fell from her eyes.

"Don't go talking as if you're the only one who's hurt! Stella was there when it happened! And you're not the only one who cares about Lightning!" the brunette yelled.

"Um. I have no intentions on bothering you whatsoever You Highnesses, but Lady Lightning is resting in her room."

They all turned to the direction where the maid was standing…

3….

2….

1….

"Get outta my way you chocobo haired alien!"

"_You_ get outta _my_ way you blonde-haired witch! You're the reason Light's in bad shape!'

"Shut up! You call yourself her brother when you weren't even there when she needed you most!"

"Ah shut up! She wouldn't be like that and I would have watched over her if you hadn't disappeared like a rat!"

"Who are you calling a rat? You-"

The others watched Cloud and Stella race toward Light's chambers, leaving them with clouds of smoke.

"Well, it looks like they're all back to normal!" The others looked at Tifa and sweat dropped. The brunette was smiling and she had sparkles on the background.

'_Eh? Didn't she just slap her fiancé earlier? Talk about mood swings!' _Vanille thought as she looked at Tifa. She sighed and then turned back to the two blonds tried to outrun the other. _'Oh well, at least, Light's all right. I suppose that's all that matters.'_

"Light!"

Unsurprisingly, Cloud and Stella had reached Lightning's room at the same time. When they entered the room, they saw Lightning sleeping on her bed….

"COVERED IN BANDAGES?"

The others turned to Cloud, who looked like he was seeing a nightmare. The blonde prince turned blue, the color on his face draining away like water in a sink, then fell spinning on the ground as Tidus caught him. "Hey, dude? You okay? Cloud? Oh jeez, not again…" the brown-haired teen sighed as he shook his cousin awake.

Tifa turned to them and giggled, "You shouldn't do that Tidus, it'll only make it worse." She told him.

"Yeah. And it's not like this is the first time this happened. Cloud always gets like that whenever Light gets injured. He never changed, he was like that since we were five." Zack said and laughed like a mad man.

Rinoa looked at Zack, "Say, no one ever did tell us what happened in the past. Do you mind telling us the story?" she asked him.

The raven-haired noble crossed his arms and looked up, a smile playing on his face. "Well, it all started years ago."

Squall looked over at Lightning, "Guys, where did her scarf go? I was sure she wore one."

Fang looked at the strawberry-blonde haired princess as well, "You're right, she did wear one. All of her clothes are over there…"

-x-x-x-x-

It was late at night. A dark cloaked figure was sitting in the shadows, like he always do. He lifted his hand and stared at it. The moment he laid his eyes on his hand, an image of a strawberry-blonde haired maiden intruded his mind, not that the idea displeased him, he welcomed the thought. Without his permission, he lips curled into a soft smile.

"You sure are an interesting woman, Éclair." He whispered.

'_She sure has grown. She's not that little girl who keeps on yelling "onii-sama" over and over again whenever Cloud comes home from a trip. You've surpassed all of my expectations of you. Although,'_ his curved lips turned into a straight line,_ 'I didn't expect to see the present princess of Tenebrae here either. Not that I'm complaining. It's nice to see someone from that wretched place every once in a while.'_

His hand went to his pocket, looking for something, _'Ah! Here it is.'_ He pulled out what his hand has found, only to be disappointed to see his pocket watch. He tried again, but pulled out his handkerchief this time. Once more, but he took out a pen. Those made him stand up.

"AAHHHHHHH! Where is it? I know I put it here somewhere!" he yelled as he tried to look for it in his other pocket. He felt something on his neck, and when he touched it, "Ah, here it is!"

It was a red scarf.

-x-x-x-x-

And CUT! Okay, I know it's not too much, and is pretty short, but please bear with me!


	4. Let the Game of Chess Begin

**Me: This is the 4****th**** chapter of Shadow Hearts. It's kinda weird how I make these things… Oh well, I hope you like this one.**

**Noctis: When do I get to appear?**

**Me: Just you wait! We'll come to that part soon!**

**Noctis: Fine, fine. But can I ask something though?**

**Me: What is it?**

**Noctis: Why do I have to wear thing abomination? It's hot like hell here!**

**Me: Stop complaining. You're not the only one whose suffering you know. *looks over shoulder* The girls are having a harder time on this than you think. Stella may look fine right now, but just wait for an hour or two and she'll collapse. Light's really not enjoying what she'll do in the future with those dresses… And-**

**Noctis: Light? In a….dress? *sparkly background***

**Laris(Shotgun guy): Well, I don't want to keep you guys waiting. So enjoy this chapter okay? *smiles and have sparkly effect***

**Me: Hey you! You're not supposed to come out yet! Go back in the house! Geez… Men… Okay! 3, 2, 1, ACTION!**

**Shadow Hearts: Memories of the Past a New Mystery Arises **

"I wonder where it went…" Vanille muttered.

"Hey, do you want me to continue the story or do you want me to join you in figuring how to solve the mystery of the missing scarf?" Zack shouted at them.

"Oh, sorry. We forgot about that. Go on. Tell us."

"Geez… You guys are giving me a migraine… Okay, so as I was saying, it all started when we were 5."

-x-x-x-x-

"Onii-sama!" a five-year-old Éclair was running towards the castle gates barefooted… again.

"*Beep*-sama! Please at least wear a pair of slippers! Elaine-sama will be furious if she were to see you like this!" one of the maids had yelled out as the others desperately try to catch up to their princess. Much to their dismay, this is the type of age that kids happen to run faster than usual, and the fact that *Beep* was so eager to see her older twin brother doesn't make their situation any easier.

"Onii-sama, Onii-sama!" *Beep* shouted once more, and smiled widely as she saw a flash of her twin's hair that looked more like spun gold in spikes. It only took a few seconds before the blond found himself being tackled by his sister who had her face buried in his chest. The strawberry-blonde haired princess looked up to her him, her eyes sparkling like real sapphires, "Welcome home! Onii-sama!" *Beep* said, flashing her pearly, straight white teeth.

The blond boy looked down at his younger sister and patted her head, "Thanks for the welcome sis."

*Beep* raised her small coral head, her eyes sparkling like they always do with that wide grin of hers, "Nee, nee onii-sama, me and Zacky met a new friend! Zacky's showing her around and-," she stopped in mid-sentence as she turned to look behind Cloud, "Zacky? What are you doing here?"

Cloud turned to look behind him and saw a confused-looking Zack, the spiky raven-haired, blue eyed friend of theirs that somewhat has a problem in the head, or so he thinks. Sometimes Cloud wondered how he and Zack get so well together, knowing that they were entirely opposite in more ways than one.

Zack tilted his head slightly, "Eh? I thought you were going to show her around."

There was silence, then the chirping of birds that were passing by, and then-

"Zacky, you IDIOT! How could you leave a girl in this kind of place?"

"How was I supposed to know that? You didn't say anything to me!"

Cloud watched as his sister argued with Zack, and wondered why he didn't feel as annoyed as he usually did whenever *Beep* clashed words with the raven-haired boy. But that didn't stop him from wishing Aerith was anywhere near so that Zack would keep quiet for some time. He let out a small sigh and walked away from the arguing two, he needed to find this mystery friend of theirs whoever she may be. Something told him that his sister won't be pleased if she finds out that no one has done anything to find her newly found friend, and whatever *Beep* would do, it won't be flattering. It never was. So he found himself strolling down the hallway, resisting the urge to whistle like he would normally do and he didn't know why.

"Um… Excuse me?" came a soft voice behind him.

The blond-haired boy turned round and resisted the very powerful urge to widen his eyes in an effort to hide his shock. It was a girl. Not just any girl, it was a _very, very, very _attractive girl at that. She had long, dark brown hair, the same as her eyes. Only that her eyes showed a small sparkle. Not much sparkle as *Beep's* was, his sister had the brightest, shiny eyes there is, but it was still beautiful. The girl also had porcelain skin, like they all did. And Cloud felt his pride boost up by a fraction as he realized that he was somehow taller than her. It was really bad for his ego that Zack was hell a lot taller than him, even though they were practically the same age.

"Do you know how I can find the living room in this place? It's got an awful lot of twists and turns…" the girl said, the last sentence pretty much to herself rather than the blond before her.

"Uh, yeah, sure. Wh-where do you want to go?" and Cloud mentally cursed himself for stuttering back then. Not only that, he was fighting the blush that was threatening on appearing.

"Thank you so much, I am looking for Princess *Beep*. And hey, are you alright? You're awfully red…" too late.

-x-x-x-x-

"HOLD IT!" Vanille suddenly interrupted.

"What? You're interrupting a very good reminiscing here!" Zack told the orange-haired woman. _'And just when I was having fun on remembering one of Cloud's most embarrassing moments too…'_

"Why are you deliberately omitting Lightning's real name? That's totally unfair!" the woman told him.

Zack merely shrugged and said "Well, I can't do that. Not without Light's permission anyway. I don't plan on entering Lightning's world of pain thank you very much for your concern. Now, do you want to hear the story or not?"

"Fine…"

-x-x-x-x-

The two young nobles stalked down the hallway, looking for *Beep*.

-x-x-x-x-

"Vanille put that thing down!" came Fang's voice and Zack mentally slapped himself square in the face that he was sure it would sting like hell if he actually did it, in which he was actually thinking on doing.

It was certainly rare for him to feel irritated, usually…well, scratch that, it had _always_ been him who irritated and made fun of others. Now it was like he was getting a taste of his own medicine. "Do you want to hear the stories or not? 'Cuz if you're not interested, I would gladly not tell the story at all. You're not the one who's getting a sore throat here."

"Okay, okay. Sorry 'bout that Zack. Go ahead, continue the story. And just say Lightning instead of makin' that weird beepin' noise. It's starting to get in my nerves." Fang said as she crossed her arms proudly, giving a side-ways glance to the now tied Vanille with a duck-tape. _'That would keep her quiet for the time being.'_

"Anyways, where was I? Ah, now I remember!"

-x-x-x-x-

Unbeknownst to the two, the princess they were looking for was just hiding behind them. The strawberry-blonde princess grinned at the sight before her, doing her best not to giggle in order to keep herself hidden. _'Onii-sama like Tifa-chan doesn't he? Oh well, I'll just leave them to their own private world of butterflies. Now, what fun is there to do around here…'_ the young princess thought about all the places that she could have fun with _without_ getting spotted by the other two, and since she was not in the mood to think, she just went outside the palace. But giving a back-glance every once in a while in order to make sure no one was following her. _'What fun would it be if anyone of the maids were here, right? Although I must admit, it __**is**__ fun to make fun of them and pull some pranks.'_

She just wandered off straight towards her most favorite place in the world, aside from her mother's garden. When she reached her destination, she ran straight towards the small lake. Yes, it was small, not like the lake in her mother's garden, but there was something about this place that…she just couldn't say, but it made her so happy to be here. The air was so fresh, the grasses and leaves were so green, and the sky was so blue, it was exactly the same color as her eyes. And the best part is, the one thing that made this place her second favorite of all, was because of the animal that lives around these areas.

"Hey there little guy." She said to a baby chocobo that flew to her. She touched its fur and carried the animal in her arm like a baby, then looked up to the sky, "You know, I really miss my Mommy and Daddy at times like these. It makes me really sad…" The animal in her arms flew and danced around in the air, like it was somehow making her feel better. Lightning giggled (A/N: That's kinda awkward to write Lightning and giggling in a same sentence…) and rose up to hug the baby chocobo, "Thanks! You made me feel all better now."

While the young princess was playing around with the chocobo, Zack was looking at her the whole time. He had followed her the moment she had escaped the castle and followed her here. Somehow, he felt like Cloud and Lightning were his own siblings, and had grown to really care for them. And, since there was nothing wrong with Lightning, he headed back towards the Farron's castle.

-x-x-x-x-

Zack was having the time of his life. Cloud has finally found a girl he likes. Well, Zack _assumed _he likes, with all their chitter-chatter. The girl, Tifa Lockhart, was honestly a sweet girl. Not as sweet as Aerith but sweet in her own way. And it was so nice to have Cloud be nice to a girl her age other than his little sister. And it's already night!

"I'm worried about Lightning…" Cloud said after Tifa had seen the significant change of expression in his face and asked him what was wrong.

"Uh, young master, her Highness is sleeping in her bed upstairs. Although, I doubt you'll like what you'll see there so I advise you now not to go there. Strange though, no one noticed her come in even if she did leave, with all those…" One of the maids said after overhearing the blond prince's conversation with the brunette princess.

Despite the warning, Cloud rushed to his sister's room, Zack and Tifa right behind his trails.

"Lightning!" Cloud shouted as he busted the door open. And on the bed was….

"Cloud, what's wrong?" Tifa asked him as she went beside him and looked at his face.

Cloud was looking at the now-sleeping form of his sister, bruises everywhere and the small twigs of trees told him that she fell from a tree. He turned pale, and before the other two kids knew what was happening, Cloud fell hard on the floor, unconscious. "Oh dear…"

-x-x-x-x-

"And since then Cloud has always fainted whenever he sees Light in this state. And don't rub it in his face though; you won't like what you'll become after what he does to you." Zack finished.

The others looked from Cloud to Lightning, the silence getting harder to bear each second that passed. Finally, the silence was broken by-not surprisingly- muffled words. They turned to Vanille who was struggling on the chair she was tied to, moving about and trying to get the duck-tape off her mouth. "Do you think I should take the tape off now?" Fang asked the others.

The gang looked at each other, exchanging glances and all agreed to one thing, "Nah."

At that, Vanille made another loud noise, "GMPH MPH HMPH OUPH OMPH MPH! (GET THIS THING OUT OF ME!)"

"You know what maybe you should let her go Fang." Squall told the raven haired woman.

"And why is that?"

"Because the sooner she's free the less annoying muffled noises she'll make." Tidus answered for his cousin.

"Your wish is my command then."

A few moments later, everyone was having their own conversation. That was, until Yuna decided to have everyone's attention. "Guys, there's just something that really bothers me after I heard the story…" she said quietly but enough for everyone to hear.

"What is it?" Hope asked the short haired brunette.

Yuna shrugged a little, "I was wondering, how did Light get back here without getting seen? I mean, wouldn't she be spotted by then? No one ever said anything about seeing her?"

There was a silence after Yuna finished her sentence.

"Now that you mention it, no one _has_ seen here come in. I asked the maids once before about anyone getting in from the back or either sides of the castle, since Cloud, Tifa and myself had been in the front the whole time and not once did we see her…" Zack said as he remembered what the maids had said before.

"_No, you're Highness. No one has passed these areas yet. We would have noticed if there was, we've been here the whole time."_

Zack frowned, _'Come on, there was one response that was different! I know it! I just can't remember! Damn it what was it?'_

There was not a single word said, everyone waiting for what Zack is going to say.

"That's it! That's what she said!" Zack announced as if he finally found the missing piece of a puzzle.

"What is it?" Serah asked.

"There was one maid who _did _see something! I remember now!"

"_I'm sure I saw something. I was looking for the Princess Lightning, I checked her room first but no one was there. I went to the garden but again, no one was there. I looked over the princess' window and that's when I saw it. It was a dark figure, like it was wearing a black cloak or something of that sort. It was at the princess' door when I saw it, and then it went straight down the bushes the next. I looked over the bushes but I found nothing there, not even and animal. I got anxious so I headed straight towards Princess Lightning's room as fast as I can. And there I saw the princess, lying on the bed in a sleeping manner…'_

Now it was Squall's turn to frown, "Someone's here. Someone we don't know. And if that person knows how things work around here, then that person's probably been here for quite some time."

Aerith turned to the sleeping woman in the bed, "And it seems to me that that person knows Light very, _very_ well. Maybe too well…"

The rest turned to the sleeping princess, all have worried expressions.

Stella had been strangely silent for the whole time. She had paid attention to every single thing that had been said. _'Disappeared…in a black cloak… No, it's impossible. It could never be. It's been __**centuries**__ for the Light's sake. But, __**he**__ is the only one I know who can do such things…_ _Lightning's not safe here and I have to do something.'_

"Hold on, did you hear that?" Stella asked the others.

"Heard what?" Rinoa asked, a brow slightly rose in confusion.

"A low chuckle, I know I heard it!"

-x-x-x-x-

He left just as silently as he had come. He was unable to hold that low chuckle earlier. He couldn't help it. Stella was indeed one of his descendants. The way she thinks is exactly the way he did back when he escaped from his homeland.

"Now then, what are you going to do, Sta….Ste…Bah, whatever your name is! It doesn't matter anyway… Right now, my twisted little game of chess, begins…"

-x-x-x-x-

**Finally! I know that this is really short but please bear with me! I'll do better next time! Reviews please!**


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